Good lord: “Barrick-recommended military force burns down hundreds of homes in PNG”:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/04/30/18592070.php And this from the Post Courier: “Porgera locals to sue government”:http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20090501/news01.htm Update 1 May 09 17:30: Here’s a roundup of some more links. Some of these pages are being edited while live so sometimes the content changes. Radio New Zealand: “PNG Denies Paper [...]
“Bad times at Wafi and Hidden Valley”:http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFPbETQHAXvVa1AUtcUKChU00v2g
Workers at Ok Tedi Mine are “on strike”:http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/12/business/mine.php. Sounds like OTML’s attempt to retain engineers in the face of growing demand and low supply ended up upsetting everyone else.
After earlier issues with a temporary closure it looks like “Lihir is back on track”:http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,23131449-14334,00.html
Two quick stories on investors and executives in the mining industry and how it relates to PNG: “Graham Briggs, the new CEO of Harmony”:http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/758726.htm and “Nautilus’s Russian Billionair shareholder”:http://rspas.anu.edu.au/blogs/rmap/2008/01/03/russians-pacific-punt/
Here’s a “special issue on mining and corporate responsibility”:http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/greenleaf/journaldetail.kmod?productid=2644&keycontentid=8 with many of the articles available in PDF.
I have always known, deep in my heart, that John Burton had the heart and soul of a blogger. But his recent blog, despite the occasional entry that is “incomprehensible”:http://rspas.anu.edu.au/blogs/rmap/2007/10/29/frightenstein-drives-stake-into-sinking-atolls/#more-529 (at least to those of us who are not aging commonwealthers) are “furniture chewing”:http://rspas.anu.edu.au/blogs/rmap/2007/10/26/cross-cultural-misunderstanding-and-4wds/ at “its very best”:http://rspas.anu.edu.au/blogs/rmap/2007/10/31/hacks-move-decimal-point-again/.
Here’s an ‘article of the day’ link: “ools for the Disempowered? Indigenous Leverage Over Mining Companies”:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a783628719?jumptype=alert&alerttype=new_issue_alert,email Abstract: Rather than passively accepting development, some Indigenous communities have forced their demands into corporate decision-making. Accordingly, recognising and responding to community expectations becomes a matter of prudent strategy and ‘enlightened self-interest’. This paper examines the case of Century [...]
Just for the record, Barrick has a “page responding to CorpWatch”:http://www.barrick.com/CorporateResponsibility/TheFactsCorpWatch/default.aspx (also available as a “PDF”:http://www.barrick.com/Theme/Barrick/files/docs_pressrelease/2007.05.11-TheFactsandCorpWatch.pdf) discussing specific allegations. Looking Barrick’s material over quickly, however, I don’t see anything specifically about Porgera in it.
More on the activist front — there is now a “protestbarrick.net”:http://www.protestbarrick.net/ website with information about Barrick and campaigns against it.
It’s hard keeping up with all the personnel changes that happen at Porgera. In 2004 Brad Gordon was (iirc) the mine manager and in the past couple of years he’s jumped from that to being managing director and is now “working for Empire”:http://www.thenational.com.pg/042806/business2.htm.